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“We identified (set-pieces) as an area and then implemented it into training drills and had a chat amongst ourselves as players, saying ‘what can we do better to address the situation?’. And fair play to us, we have done that.

“Set-pieces, especially in this division, are really, really important.

“It was all of us involved in the meeting, the staff, all the coaches and all the players. The manager is calling for us to be more responsive in meetings and take a little bit more responsibility on ourselves. That’s the direction that we’re moving in and it’s proving quite fruitful.”

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“And it’s been well documented that we’ve been shipping more goals than we’d like – and certainly more than I’d like, as a goalkeeper.

“But the boys were brilliant in front of me. In all honesty, I didn’t have a great deal to do. Eric (Lichaj) came in with a great performance all round and got that block off the line which saved my bacon a little bit.

“I didn’t have a great deal to do, but it’s always nice to get a clean sheet.”

Eric Lichaj does brilliantly to deny Lloyd Dyer on the line (Image: John Sumpter @ JMS Photography)

Previous clean sheets had come against Millwall on the opening day and at the Stadium of Light on September 12, while it was goals from Barrie McKay and Eric Lichaj which clinched the three points against Burton.

And with an attacking arsenal also including the likes of Daryl Murphy, Jason Cummings, Ben Osborn and the returning Jamie Ward, Smith feels Forest should be able to take advantage of greater solidity at the back.

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“It does weigh on your mind a little bit, of course, because it’s an individual goal to get as many clean sheets as I can throughout the course of the season,” he said.

“When you get a clean sheet, it’s something you can build off.

“We’ve got the talent in the team where, if we do keep a clean sheet, we’ll more than likely go on and win games – proving that, we’ve not drawn a game yet so far this season.

“There’s goals in the team, so we’ve identified it as an area that we need to stop conceding sloppy goals. I think we’ve got that in the locker because set-pieces were a real problem earlier in the season, and since that was something we completely addressed ourselves, touch wood, we’ve not conceded from a set-piece in recent weeks. That’s pleasing.

“Now it’s just important to build on that clean sheet and get a few more.”